Saudi Student Wins UN Video Contest For Citizen Ambassadors

October 25, 2010

[Washington, D.C.] – An 18 year-old, Mansour Qussay Albadran, from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was the youngest of six winners of the Citizen Ambassadors to the United Nations video contest. This year the topic for videos was the Millennium Development Goals, eight objectives aimed at achieving tangible improvements by 2015, in the fields of poverty, hunger, disease, maternal and child deaths, education, gender equality and sustainability. More than 400 videos were submitted by people around the world. The videos were viewed and voted on by a panel of United Nations officials and contest partners.

Albadran’s winning video expressed faith in the abilities of the United Nations and called on the organization in coordination with leading nations to work to ensure proper education, medical care and housing for all people. He asked for nations to put aside cultural differences for the betterment of the world’s neediest, saying, “…eventually we are all human and we may need each other’s help.”

On Sunday, the winners who have been designated “UN Citizen Ambassadors” visited the United Nations Headquarters in New York on United Nations Day 2010. The winners met United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, took a special tour of Headquarters and enjoyed VIP seating at the United Nations Day Concert in the General Assembly Hall.

“We are very proud of the contribution Mansour has made to the international community,” said Saudi Ambassador to the United States Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir. “His video speaks to the hopes and objectives of the Kingdom: to live in a safe, peaceful and prosperous world and continue to build international bridges to achieve this goal.”

In an effort to further the goals Albadran outlined in his video, the Saudi Ministry of Education and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) signed a memorandum of understanding on October 12, to establish the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Program for the Culture of Dialogue and Peace. In addition, the Kingdom announced that it has appropriated $5 million for the program’s budget.

For more information on Saudi Arabia please visit www.saudiembassy.net or follow the Embassy on Twitter @SaudiEmbassyUSA. You can also view Albadran’s video on the Embassy YouTube page.